Hickman football team intensifies practices

Hickman head coach Jason Wright talks to his players after their loss against the Liberty Blue Jays at William Jewell College's Norris Patterson Field in Liberty on Friday night. "Next week we need good practices," he said after Hickman's season opener 42-6 loss. "That is where good play begins."¦ Jason Lenhart

COLUMBIA—On the lower practice field at
Hickman High School, the only thing missing was the crowd.

Friday night's

Vashon (0-1) vs. Hickman (0-1)

WHEN: 7 p.m.

WHERE: Hickman

Although the opposing
team was actually Hickman's defense and the referees wore purple and gold T-shirts
instead of black-and-white striped jerseys, the Kewpies’ football practice ran a lot
like a high-stakes game.

Coming off a 42-6 loss to Liberty,
Hickman is concentrating on one thing this week: evening its
record with a win at home against Vashon Friday night. Hickman football coach Jason Wright said the key to achieving that
goal is the Kewpies’ week of intense, game like practices leading
up to the contest.

"We try to get practice to be
as game like as possible," Wright said. "We've got to build off the
momentum from these practices in Friday's game.”

Pure scrimmage, however, won’t give
the individual attention necessary to improve the team’s performance. In order
to maximize what his players get out of each practice, Wright adopted a
hands-on approach to improving his players’ skills. Dividing the team into
sections , the coaches try to give each player
personalized attention and stress the need to build a team mentality.

"This is my guy right here, and
I'm going to fight for him," assistant coach Eric Thomas said to the
players, explaining the mentalitythey need to adopt in each game.

The coaches are not afraid to call
out individual players by name to highlight the good and bad things they are
doing on the field.

"We’re in the kid business,
the relationship business, and you can't assume with these kids that they
know,” Wright said. “You literally, physically have to show them. Then it's on
them."

Looking for flaws in execution, the
coaches will insert themselves in the action during practice. After a complete pass, Thomas
pulled the players aside and jutted his elbows out to the side, illustrating
what he called the “chicken wings” that they should avoid when blocking and
maneuvering.

After breaking into individual
squads, the team comes together to work on its mechanics. Some of the
best instructions happen during these scrimmages, Wright said. After assembling
the team at the goalpost, Wright will subject it to snap after snap,
analyzing the motions of its field goal execution. When he notices
fundamental mistakes, Wright is not afraid to line up with the players to
illustrate what they need to change.

"I'm going to show you how to
do this,” Wright said. “I'm going to show you myself. If I get my butt kicked
at last you're learning."

Wright also decided to adopt a
different theme each week, in response to the team’s recent performance. This
week, he is stressing what he calls the “five Ps.”

“Our theme is having pride,
persevering through adversity, being positive, playing with passion, and
playing with a purpose," he said.

Wright said he wants his
players to stick to the five Ps not only at daily practices, but also at
Friday night's game. Although he discussed last week’s mistakes with the team, Wright
is more concerned that his players look forward and work to improve.

“We've already explored the
negatives, we've talked about them, and the guys are trying to work on them,”
Wright said. “We're trying to work from a positive standpoint this week."